Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $45.47.

A number of analysts recently commented on CFG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,060,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,144 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $339,733,000 after purchasing an additional 5,579,313 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.8% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,580,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $237,106,000 after purchasing an additional 113,300 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $159,550,000 after purchasing an additional 587,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $155,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,886 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $48.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $21.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.07. Citizens Financial Group has a 12 month low of $26.99 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $43.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.21.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.73% and a net margin of 10.37%. Citizens Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 66.14%.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc operates as the bank holding company that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, corporations, and institutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking.